We stopped by to pick up the sign boards that we had made and painted for the church at Attado and the church at Bakjon. They were supposed to be ready on Saturday when we went to check on them, we did not even stop because we could see that they had not finished them yet. We stopped today and felt certain they would be ready but we were sadly mistaken. The shop owner said that he lost the paper that had the church names on it so he did not know how to spell Bakjon. In his defense the sign painter is a Dagomba and the village names are Konkomba names. I would have been hard pressed to know how to spell them too. He said that they would be ready tomorrow. Even if he gets them painted tomorrow, they will not be dry enough for us to bring them to the mission house.
Red called this afternoon and said that a friend of his had cement he wanted to sell but we declined the offer because we did not want to have to pay to have it hauled out to Kulkpeni. A few minutes later Red called back and said that the man really needed to sell the cement so he would haul it to Kulkpeni and not charge us. We can live with that deal.
We asked Red if he had his new dump truck with the crane home yet. He said he did not; he said that he had been to Tamale on Wednesday and Thursday and that he was going to have to go back again. That truck has turned out to be a nightmare for Red!
Donkey was back at work today; he said that the Damba festival was going well. Early this morning we heard gun fire coming from the area where the palace is located. Donkey said that they were shooting guns because the sub-chiefs that had come to celebrate the first day of the Damba were going back home so the warriors walked along with them shooting guns until they reached the edge of town. He said that it is their way of saying farewell to the visitors. I have had a few visitors in my time that I would have loved to jubilate their departure with a little gun fire! Haven’t you? Ha!
I was able to get a little bit done toward the quilt I am working on; I have gathered the scraps that I am planning on using so now I have to cut them to the size I need. This quilt top is going to be sort of a challenge because I am using the scraps of the 3 1/3-inch strips of traditional fabric that mostly the men in our area weave. The weave is very loose so I have to zig-zag every edge to keep them from fraying away into nothing! I am planning on making a herringbone design; wish me luck!
The weekend is coming! Enjoy it!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
The parents tried to trick me today! They wanted me to take that nasty Ivermectin liquid! Pee! Yuck! That stuff is so terrible! This time they mixed in one of Dad’s sugar free packets that he uses to flavor his water. They put it in one of my baby bottles; they did not fool me. I could smell that the Kool-Aid had medicine in it; I normally love the Kool-Aid stuff! When it was time for my suppertime bottle Mom took the nipple off my milk/cereal bottle and put it on the medicine bottle. I was confused because the nipple rings are different colors; I always drink milk out of the one that has an orange ring and my juice bottle has a pink ring. I was excited when I saw the milk bottle coming my way but I did not even take one drink until I smelled the Ivermectin! I turned the bottle over; I smelled around the rim of the bottle; I was hunting for any hint of milk but found none! I was hungry but not that hungry! It only took the parents a few minutes to figure out that I was not going to drink that stuff! Dad said, “He knows, I think he can tell it is a different color!” Well, duh! I have been telling them all my life that yellow is my favorite color; if I could not see color how can yellow be my favorite color? Dad fixed a bottle with the right stuff in it, cereal and milk, and then he put the right color lid back on it and life was good again!
I have been hungry for mangos; when the parents went to town they looked for some but could not find any. Fruit is seasonal and I guess there is a mango shortage. They did bring home pineapple, apples, bananas, and tiger nuts so I won’t starve!
Stop messing with my bottles!
Love, Skeeter
